Free Republic

I always believed that giving to a good cause or helping victims of a disaster was a noble thing to do. I mean, “There but for the grace of God go I”, right? With the recent uncovering of scandals within the government, more and more investigators are digging to uncover other cases of fraud and mismanagement. Is nothing sacred anymore? A recent investigation exposed by CNN, The Center for Investigative Reporting and the Tampa Bay Times have found that there are dozens and dozens of charities that basically do next to nothing for the causes they raise money for. 50...

Chains such as Rent-a-Wheel and Rimco are seeing business boom. Many consumers pay double or triple the cost of buying and face aggressive repossession policies. When the tires on their Dodge Caravan had worn so thin that the steel belts were showing through, Don and Florence Cherry couldn't afford to buy a new set. So they decided to rent instead. The Rich Square, N.C., couple last September agreed to pay Rent-N-Roll $54.60 a month for 18 months in exchange for four basic Hankook tires. Over the life of the deal, that works out to $982, almost triple what the radials...

All In The Family The US has entered into a contract with a real estate firm to sell 56 buildings that currently house U.S. Post Offices. The government has decided it no longer needs these buildings, many of which are located on prime land in towns and cities across the country. The sale of these properties will fetch billions of dollars and a handsome 6% commission to the company handling the sales. That company belongs to a man named Richard Blum. Who is Richard Blum you ask? Why the husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein, that's who. What a bunch of...

Working for the public good has also worked well for one California county administrator’s bank account. According to reports by several newspapers, Alameda County, in the San Francisco Bay Area, is paying its County Administrator Susan Muranishi, north of $400,000—for life. This includes a generous base salary of $301,000, plus taxpayer-funded deferred pension plans paid for by the county. The pension accounts are set by a formula that multiplies years of service by 2 to 3 percent of the top salary to calculate the benefit, the San Jose Mercury News reports. With 38 years of service under her belt, the...

I've been 3 months trying to get TWC to come and get my defective DVR (we have 2) several calls promising they would come and they would adjust our bill blah blah blah. Then the new bill came and informed us we are getting a price increase so we talked it over and did some research. Our TV bill (We have their internet as well) was over 110 bucks a month. We realized we could get Hulu plus and receiver most of the shows we watch for about 9 bucks a month and the two shows we definitely watch that...

Senators Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer will outline the legislation on Thursday morning. They are even going to let that wacky 350.org activist Bill McKibben speak. Sheesh. Billed as “major” and “comprehensive” legislation, it will have a carbon tax. Here is the statement from Sanders’ office (bold mine): Sanders, Boxer to Introduce Major Climate Change Legislation February 12, 2013 WASHINGTON, Feb 12 – Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) will hold a news conference on Thursday, Feb. 14 to announce comprehensive legislation on climate change. Boxer is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Sanders...

One of the most important issues in this year's election is energy. Our ongoing addiction to Mideast oil leaves us dependent on countries that are often unstable and hostile. Developing our own domestic energy resources and investing in renewable energy lessens this dependence. It also has the potential to create jobs and improve our trade deficit. The two presidential candidates have laid out energy plans that sound similar: both President Obama and Governor Romney want to continue to develop domestic energy resources, including renewable energy, with the aim of making the U.S. less dependent on foreign oil. But according to...

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has famously stated that she is a “middle class American,” and it was this very claim that prompted many of her critics to openly question whether or not it was a realistic assessment of her personal income and assets.... ...reviews of Wasserman Schultz’ congressional financial disclosures revealed a not widely known fact that she owns a second home in New Hampshire and is also not required to disclose her husband’s salary... So when you get down to it, Wasserman Schultz’s claim that “I am a middle class’ American” argument really has no credibility, especially now that...

During the summer of 2009, conservative activists turned up the heat on Democratic politicians to protest the innovation-destroying, liberty-usurping Obamacare mandate. In the summer of 2012, it’s squishy Republican politicians who deserve the grassroots flames.In case you hadn’t heard, even if the Supreme Court overturns the progressives’ federal health care juggernaut, prominent GOP leaders vow to preserve its most “popular” provisions. These big-government Republicans show appalling indifference to the dire market disruptions and culture of dependency that Obamacare schemes have wrought.GOP Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, vice chair of the Senate GOP Conference, told a St. Louis radio station two...

IT IS EVEN WORSE THAN WE HAVE BEEN TOLD DC claims $17,542 per student; really $28,170 L.A. claims $10,053 per student; really $25,208

Federal government spent nearly $70 billion on ‘climate change activities’ since 2008 6:13 PM 05/17/2012 The Congressional Research Service estimates that since 2008 the federal government has spent nearly $70 billion on “climate change activities.” Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe presented the new CRS report on the Senate Floor Thursday to make the point that the Obama administration has been focused on “green” defense projects to the detriment of the military. The report revealed that from fiscal years 2008 through 2012 the federal government spent $68.4 billion to combat climate change. The Department of Defense also spent $4 billion of...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Cheryl in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the Indianapolis Colts' flags are at half-mast. CALLER: (chuckles) Hi, Rush. RUSH: Hi. CALLER: Thanks for taking my call. RUSH: You bet. CALLER: I wanted to talk about the crony capitalism from a personal standpoint for myself. My husband was an engineer with Delphi, which is part of GM. And when the bankruptcy was taken care of and the auto bailouts and the whole thing that Obama's so proud of, what most people don't know is what happened to the salaried retirees from Delphi in the whole deal. The union people...

(Editor’s note: This article has been updated with a reaction from a General Motor's official.)Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it – a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.Hohman looked at total state and federal assistance offered for the development and production of the Chevy Volt, General Motors’ plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. His analysis included 18 government deals that included loans, rebates, grants and tax credits. The amount...

> According to Automotive News, Honda has issued an ultimatum to its dealers: Stop selling cars below invoice price through these websites, or lose the per-car marketing spiffs that the factory gives dealers. Since Honda corporate turned the screws on its dealers in October, TrueCar says Honda sales through its service are down. >

..for those of us who must let gas attendants pump the gas in stations, watch for this ripoff. When you ask the attendant to pump a certain amount of gas you expect to get what you pay for...the ripoff works like this You ask for $30 regular, and then go about digging out the cash, retuning the radio, taking a sip of the morning coffee The attendant programs the pump for $28, the pump clicks off when programmed amount is reached, you hand the guy the $30 as requested, and drive off...UNLESS YOU CHECK THE PUMP FOR AMOUNT PUMPED you...

N. Korea irking foreign investors via double contracts NOVEMBER 15, 2011 02:06 North Korea is striving to attract foreign investment to earn foreign currency ahead of its pledged transformation into “a great and powerful nation” next year, but a string of foreign-invested companies in the North are suffering damage. According to sources on the North Monday, North Korean authorities have signed double contracts with foreign investors in the North in recent weeks. Even after signing contracts, Pyongyang has unilaterally disposed of assets on its own and rejected profit sharing, causing damage to companies. In April last year, the North granted...

SPOKANE, Mo.-- Entire neighborhoods of families in Christian County are being kicked out of their homes. The foreclosures come as quite a shock to the people living in those homes. Ernie and Sharlene Risinger and their 11 year old daughter love their Spokane home and community, but they're being forced out. Their American dream has turned into a nightmare. Nearly four years ago, the Risingers moved into the place they call home. "Sounded like a great deal. He wanted $1,500 deposit or down and we would actually be buying our house," says Ernie Risinger. Or so they thought. The Risingers,...

Back in April, the Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international super-regulator, wrote a prescient if less than catchily-titled paper "Potential financial stability issues arising from recent trends in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)". Its central warning – that ETFs are not the cheap and transparent vehicles the marketers would have us believe – was spot on. When UBS’s $2bn black hole hit the screens on Thursday, no one who read the FSB report was surprised to see the words ETF and rogue trader in the same sentence. The past ten years have seen an explosion in the popularity of ETFs. In...

The era of the $400 airline fee has arrived. For an overweight checked bag weighing 71-100 pounds, Continental Airlines is charging $400 on most international flights, and American Airlines is charging $450 on its Asian flights. United Airlines charges $400 for checking bags weighing 71-99.9 pounds on flights to another continent. AIRLINE FEES CHART: What you'll pay to check a bag, change your ticket, more Those are the most expensive fees that airlines charge fliers, a new USA TODAY survey of what 13 U.S. carriers charge for services available to coach passengers has found. The survey also found: •Fees for...

I don't watch Colbert but in surfing around last night, I caught this report on Romney and how his sleazey business practices ripped off shareholders and put people out of work while he made a half-billion dollars. The report jibes with what I have seen reported at other sources during the '08 campaign.